Review: Hotter than Ever by Ella Kennedy

Reviewed by Shelly

After reading another story by this same author and realizing that I had this in my TBR for 2 years, I decided to take the plunge. I’m glad I did because I enjoyed the story a lot. Considering I didn’t read the first 8 books in the series, I’m going to assume that there’s not a lot that I missed about any of these characters. After I read, this I went back and read some of the blurbs for the other stories hoping to get a clue. They’re not my cuppa-tea because I don’t like the whole m/f/m storyline when the HEA is for the m/f only. I know what you’re thinking – and yes, I’m picky but I know what I like.

Starting off with the typical m/m sex, I was ready to not like the book at all — but there’s actually a storyline and a good one at that. Claire McKinley is at her wedding, in her wedding dress when Dylan Wade her soon to be brother-in-law knocks on her door to tell her that his brother the groom, Chris, has called off the wedding. Not only had jerkface called off the wedding on the wedding day at the church, he left without a ‘hi’ ‘bye’ or ‘see ya later’ to Claire. I felt for Claire. So not only has Chris left her, but she is humiliated in front of Dylan, the one person in the world (and wedding party) who she doesn’t like and feels the same about her. I felt for Claire. I mean really – who does that?

Coming to Claire’s rescue is not Dylan’s idea of a good time. But what’s he supposed to do when his brother commits that such tomfoolery and there’s no one else around to help Claire? His hero complex kicks in. Taking Claire back home to San Diego to his condo is the only thing that Dylan can think of to do, because to top off leaving the bride on her wedding day in her wedding dress – jerkface goes on their honeymoon. Seriously, who does that?

Back at the condo, Claire meets Dylan’s ‘roommate’ (that’s the super secret code name), Aiden Rhodes, for the first time. She’d had a run in with them during a private moment a few months prior but she didn’t get formal introduction to Aiden. Up close and personal, she can definitely see what Dylan sees in Aiden. During the next couple weeks, the three get to know each other – misunderstandings are cleared up and feelings of ‘I’ve got to have sex with you’ start taking precedent. I know these are fiction and you can’t drag the relationships out too long, but if this threesome had more interaction before they did the deed, I’d appreciate their story a whole lot more.

For some reason, I didn’t get enough of Aiden. I thought Dylan and Claire had more of a presence in the story. It wasn’t until the end when Aiden’s ‘equalness’ in the relationship showed, but by then I was already over it. There was a lot more to him than meets the eye and I think he got short-changed. There was something about Dylan that I didn’t like – oh I remember now – it was his sh*tty behavior towards Claire in the first few chapters (first impressions and all). She wasn’t that much better with him. I still don’t know how their relationship went from ‘I hate you’ to ‘I want to sex you up’ because I didn’t see/read/feel any sexual tension between then while they were fighting like two kids over the playground swingset.

The only reason that I ended up liking this story was because when it came time that the 3 of them decided to make a go of it – realistic questions where asked and it wasn’t an easy fix; how did they explain the Dylan/Aiden relationship to their SEAL teammates; how to explain the Dylan/Aiden/Claire relationship to family, friends and co-workers. Those situations actually had some meat to them and made the sex parts fade into the background. Claire’s relationship with her parents actually made sense and I enjoyed the dynamics that she had with both of them. Even Dylan’s relationship with his teammates was good – I’m still shaking my head about his and Aiden’s other sexual partners. But I digress.

As with most ménage stories that are m/m/f I personally prefer that all three come into the relationship at the same time because then it seems to be that everyone is more on an even playing field. When there’s a 3rd being added to an established couple the balance always seems in favor of the couple. If you enjoy a lot of m/m sexcapades – this definitely has that.